Do lists of amenities influence quality management in the P2P platform of Airbnb? -A study from 15 cities of the US and Canada

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of the study is to highlight the important amenities listing variables and the pervasiveness of the determinants to the “superhost” status in the online shared destination accommodation of the tourism and hospitality market. The potential guests consider the superhost status as a quality indicator of the Airbnb accommodation and promise of the host for their offered amenities and thus increasing their rental demands resulting in more revenue from more bookings. Using the Airbnb listing dataset of four cities of Canada and eleven cities of the United States, the study applied six different data mining techniques to find the importance of listing variables. It identified essential amenities based on their presence among the top variables in the applied models. The findings of the study were the identification of a reduced set of offered amenities and service variables that influence Airbnb’s reward of the “superhost” badge as a visual symbol of trust and credibility. Thus, the findings help to develop better service quality for tourists and at the same time helps to mitigate the complexities confronted by hosts with multiple listings.